


Big Brother

by Corvid_Knight



Series: Integrated Worlds [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Adoption, Cute Kids, First Meetings, Gen, good brothers, my tumblr is knight-of-heart-and-art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 13:16:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14545548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corvid_Knight/pseuds/Corvid_Knight
Summary: Despite the Orwellian title, this is just a fic about Kankri meeting Karkat for the first time when Signless brings him home.





	Big Brother

Darkleer insists on escorting you to the door even though you're three and a half sweeps old and can manage very well by yourself, thank you. Oh well. At least you have Horuss and Equius walking with you too; Horuss has ahold of your hand and Equius has his father's, reaching up to hold on.

The Zahhaks are nice to stay over with when Signless can't be home with you, but you're happy he's back. Even if there's always somebody to cuddle with, you want _your_ pile, you want to be able to hold out your arms to your dad and have him know just how you want to be held without you having to do any more than chirp at him. That's good. That's _best._

Darkleer stops at the door and goes to knock, and you sigh impatiently and tug your hand free of Horuss's. Which probably isn't nice, but you want to be inside with Signless _now_ , not when he opens the door. 

It takes you a minute to get the door open, though. Stupid too-long red sleeves; they cover your hands so you can't get a grip on the doorknob. You have to stop and roll them up, and by the time you get that done Horuss already opened up the door. 

"Thank you," you tell him, and then slip inside, raising your voice. "Dad?" 

Hm. 

Uh-oh. 

He's here, right? Darkleer wouldn't've brought you home if Signless wasn't here. But how come he's not in the main room? 

What if something happened to him? 

You fight the urge to whimper. Your dad is fine. He's _fine._ He didn't hear you, is all. 

"Dad? Signless?" Okay, you're probably being louder than you need to. 

Equius steps up beside you and takes your hand, holding it very gently for him as he looks up at you. "Okay?" he asks. 

"I'm okay," you tell him, and take a deep breath to steady your voice before calling again. "Dad—" 

The door to your dad's room opens, and you can almost sense Darkleer relaxing as Signless steps through it. Your dad smiles as you run to throw your arms around his waist, freeing up one hand so he can ruffle your hair. 

You can't help but purr when he brushes against your horns. "Hi." 

"Hi yourself, Kankri." He gently pushes you off, laughing as you try to cling longer. When you _do_ let go, though, he kneels down next to you. "I brought someone new home. Well, Dualscar brought him to me, but still." 

"Oh..." Signless has a troll a little younger than you balanced on his hip, one arm wrapped around the kid's shoulders to keep him from overbalancing. You know that staring isn't good, it can seem aggressive, but you can't _help_ it. 

The new troll—your brother now?—stares right back at you, nose wrinkling in what might be worry. Or dislike. You wonder if it's dislike. 

"Kankri," Signless says, "this is Karkat. Karkat, this is Kankri." 

Karkat clutches your dad's shirt tighter for a second, blinking at you without saying anything. He _is_ worried, isn't he? You wonder why. 

"Hi," you tell him. 

Darkleer clears his throat, and Signless looks up past you, at the other adult, and nods, gently disengaging Karkat and setting him down on the floor so he can get to his feet and step outside. 

To you, plopping down on the carpet next to Karkat seems like the logical choice. "You're my brother," you announce to him, just in case he doesn't realize that yet. 

"What's a brother?" 

Hm. You didn't expect that. And it's a good question; what _is_ a brother? "Do you know what a hatchmate is?" 

"When two grubs come out of one egg, they're each other's hatchmates. Right?" 

"Mhm." The way he immediately looks proud of himself when you confirm his answer makes you want to smile. "A brother is when a grown-up adopts more than one kid. It's a human word; we started using it when we started—" This word is _hard;_ you've heard Signless say it hundreds of times and you still have to pronounce it very carefully. "— _diplomatic relations_ with humans and Earth. If you were a girl you'd be my sister." Um. "Are you a girl?" 

Karkat shakes his head. "Fuck no. Boy." 

Your relief at not messing up his gender is balanced by your dismay at the bad word. "You can't _swear._ " 

"Can too." 

"Can not." 

"Can _too._ "

" _Can't._ " 

Karkat scowls and crosses his arms, obviously considering. You have enough time to think that you've won this argument before he glares at you and shouts " _Fuck_!" as loud as he can. 

That's very, very loud. You cover your ears in case he does it again. 

Behind you, your dad laughs. 

"I see you're getting acquainted." 

You take your hands off your ears and twist to look up at him. "He's _loud._ " 

"He says I can't say words," Karkat complains. 

"Well, you shouldn't say that one _too_ much." Signless shrugs and goes to sit down on the couch; as soon as he's settled you and Karkat are both scrambling to get up in his lap. Karkat growls softly at you, but he curls up around you anyway. "We can work on your inside voice later." 

Karkat just chirrs and buries his head in your chest; you instinctively wrap your arms around him, wondering if you should ask if that's what he wanted. Since he's purring now, it probably was. "I like outside voice," he mumbles. 

"I'll get used to outside voice," you tell him, trying not to purr so loudly that your voice gets weird. That's hard to do, because Signless is petting you, fingers working through your hair and massaging your scalp. "Just don't yell bad words at me?" 

"Mmm." He tilts his head back to meet your eyes; from the looks of his he's already mostly asleep. Signless is petting him too. "...okay. No yelling fuck at big bro." 

_Big bro._ Those words feel almost as good as being pet. 

You smile at Karkat and cuddle him up a little closer, closing your eyes and letting yourself go limp. Signless will take care of you, once you're asleep. That's what dads _do._

And he'll make sure Karkat stays with you. You know he will. 

He's _your_ brother now. Yours.


End file.
